Once you’ve registered for the GMAT, you can narrow down the MBA programs you want to apply to based on your score. It sounds daunting to send your GMAT scores to a specific list of universities, but is it? Let’s investigate. Before starting your GMAT exam, you can send your reports to up to 5 programs you choose at the testing facility; this service is included in the registration fee for the GMAT exam. Your selected list cannot be changed once it has been made. You have the following choices for how your scores will be distributed to additional programs:
- To use the Additional Score Reporting service, log into your account.
- Get in touch with GMAT Customer Service. The possibility of an additional $10 charge applies to phone transactions.
LET’S DISCUSS THE TYPES OF GMAT SCORE REPORTS–
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Unofficial Score Report
You are presented with the unofficial score report as soon as your test is over, right there in the testing facility. Your Quantitative, Verbal, Integrated Reasoning, and Total Scores are included in this report, along with the percentile rankings for each of those scores. You won’t know your score for the Analytical Writing Assessment until you receive your Official Score Report because a computer doesn’t grade it. However, those taking the GMAT online do not receive unofficial results. You will have two minutes to accept or reject the exam’s results using the computer. The computer will automatically cancel your scores if you don’t choose to accept or reject them within the allotted two minutes.
Therefore, it’s imperative that you have both a score goal and a score cutoff in mind before taking the GMAT. The lowest GMAT score you’re willing to let schools see is your cutoff score. Establish cutoffs for your section and total scores after researching the average scores at the schools you are targeting. Only use this for informational purposes. Unofficial Score Reports will not be sent to any schools or used for admissions applications.
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Official Score Report
You’ll receive an email from GMAC notifying you that your Official Score Report is available on your online GMAC account, where you’ll be able to view, download, and print your report within 20 days of your GMAT exam (or 7 business days if you take the GMAT online). This report will be distributed to the schools. Your scaled scores and percentile rankings for your Total Score, all GMAT sections, including the AWA (essays), for your latest exam, and any GMAT exams you’ve taken in the previous five years, are all included in your official score report, which is valid for five years.
The Official Score Report forwarded to schools will NOT involve any exams for which you have cancelled a score. Therefore, if you cancel your GMAT scores for a specific exam, schools won’t be able to verify that you took it. The Official Score Report for your most recent GMAT includes your score information and the photograph taken at the testing facility before your test, your contact information, demographic data, and any self-reported information you may have presented, e.g. your GPA. Where else your test scores have been sent is one thing schools won’t be able to see.
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Enhanced Score Report
The GMAT Enhanced Score Report (ESR), which offers a more thorough breakdown of test performance in each section, gives you a general idea of where your weak points were on a specific GMAT and how you managed your time. This report can be ordered even for a cancelled GMAT score and is private to you. Within five years of the exam date, you can pay $30 to GMAC to purchase your ESR. You can access the ESR for a specific GMAT through your GMAC account 24 to 72 hours after taking the test. Please note that the ESR is not currently offered for GMAT Online exams.
WAYS TO SEND YOUR GMAT SCORE REPORTS-
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Sending GMAT Scores On The Test Day
You can decide which five schools you want to receive your official GMAT scores for free when you take the test. Within 20 days of the exam date, the schools you choose will obtain your scores at the same time they appear in your online account. This procedure is the same whether you take the GMAT at home or in a testing facility. Thankfully, you can send your scores without knowing the school codes. The computer system will have the codes, so you can choose a school by doing a simple name search for each one.
Make sure to select the department of the program you’re applying to, as some schools have several departments linked to them. If you’re unsure of the precise name to search for, check with the program you’re applying to. You won’t pay additional fees to send GMAT scores to schools on test day because this service is already included in your GMAT registration fee. That is always a preferable idea to share your GMAT scores with B-schools.
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Sending Your GMAT Score Report After Test Day
Depending on your circumstances, holding off on sending your GMAT results until well after test day might be the best option. Perhaps you’d like to reappear for the GMAT to attempt a better result because you were dissatisfied with the previous score. Maybe you’re applying to 5+ schools or haven’t decided which programs you want to send your test results to. For whatever reason, you can order Additional Score Reports to send GMAT scores to schools after test day if you don’t choose any score recipients on test day or your list of recipients expands over time.
Additional Score Reports cost $35 each and are sent to selected recipients on test day in the same format as the Official Score Report. The recipient selection is the only difference between the reports (aside from the price). You can order additional score reports by logging into your GMAC account and choosing the Additional Score Reporting feature. You won’t require any school codes because you can search for each school (and department) by name and select the college/university when it appears in the drop-down column.
HOW TO SEND YOUR SCORE REPORT FOR THE ONLINE GMAT–
There are a few significant differences between the GMAT Online and in-person processes regarding viewing and sending your scores. One is that no unofficial GMAT scores are provided for the GMAT Online, so that you won’t see them after your exam. Instead, within 7 business days of your test date, you will get an email with your official GMAT Online scores. Your total score, percentiles, and scores for the Quantitative, Verbal, and IR sections of the GMAT Online will all be included in that email.
The official GMAT score report for online testing differs from the official GMAT score report for in-person testing. In other words, your score report for the GMAT Online won’t include a five-year history of all the GMAT you’ve taken, neither for you nor for any score recipients. Therefore, you will have two Official Score Reports if you take the GMAT in person, whether once or multiple times and the GMAT online: one report for any in-person GMAT scores and one for your online GMAT score.
You can send schools the Official Score Report, which only includes the results of the GMAT you took in testing centres, as the GMAT Online score is kept in a separate score report. Schools will never learn that you took the GMAT Online or see your GMAT Online score unless you choose to send it separately. This is significant because the GMAT Online score cannot be changed. The schools won’t know that you took the in-person GMAT; however, if you decide to send only your GMAT Online score and not your in-person GMAT scores.
After receiving the email with your official scores, you will have the option to send your GMAT Online scores for free to an unlimited number of schools, which you can choose by logging into your GMAC account. You can send your GMAT Online scores to as many schools as you’d like for free, and you have complete control over when they’re sent. The schools you choose will receive your test results 24 hours after you decide to send them.
You will need to pay for Additional Score Reports for just your in-person GMAT scores if you choose to send additional schools both your in-person and online GMAT scores in the future. Say you want to send both online and in-person scores to three different programs, in which case you would only need to purchase three reports (but send 6).
How Long Does It Take To Send The Scores?
| IF | THEN |
| You send your GMAT score from the test centre. | Schools will receive your score within 3 weeks. |
| You take the GMAT Online. | Your score will be available within 7 business days, and schools will receive it within 24 hours after you send it. |
| You order Additional Score Reports (in-person GMAT only). | Schools will receive your score within 7 days. |
| You reinstate a cancelled score. | Your original list of score recipients will receive your score in about 1 month. |
The “best time” for test-takers to send their GMAT results to colleges is not a set period. The most important thing is to have a plan in place before the test so that you don’t have to decide when and where to send your results. Establish a cutoff point for the lowest scores you feel comfortable sending to schools and prepare a mental list of score recipients.
If in doubt, keep in mind that you are not required to send any scores from the test day; however, if you achieve your score target (particularly if your application deadlines are approaching), there is no reason to wait to send your scores. You’ll spend less money and stress less as a result!
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